QUICK HITS
• The 60th season of Ivy League football kicks off when Yale and Cornell kick off on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 1 p.m. at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Conn.
• The 78th all-time meeting between the programs sees Yale holding a 46-29-2 edge, including consecutive wins.
• The Bulldogs have averaged 44.5 points in the last two seasons, including scoring 51 points against the Big Red last year as part of a 51-13 victory.
• Both teams opened the 2015 season against Patriot League opponents.
• The Big Red went right down to the wire against a Bucknell squad that finished second in the Patriot League last season and was picked to finish second again this year, eventually falling 19-14.
• Yale rallied for a 29-28 triumph over Colgate, rallying from a pair of two-touchdown deficits.
• Cornell saw plenty of positives despite the loss, as all three units showed significant improvement over last season.
• The offense was balanced, the defense was stout and the special teams had strong day with numerous units contributing against a team playing its third contest of the season.
• Senior running back Luke Hagy posting his fourth straight 100-yard game, the first time a Cornellian has accomplished that in 19 years. In the process of his 105-yard, one-touchdown game, he moved into the top 10 all-time at Cornell in career rushing yards.
• Junior quarterback Robert Somborn was 9-of-18 passing for 152 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He now has 10 career touchdowns to just four interceptions.
• Sophomore James Hubbard had a breakout game, hauling in three passes for 60 yards and his first varsity touchdown.
• Defensively, Cornell allowed just 286 total yards on 77 plays, an average of 3.7 yards per play.
• Senior captain Rush Imhotep had an interception, sophomore defensive end Seth Hope had 2.5 tackles for loss and first-year starter Justin Solomon had a game-high eight tackles.
• Junior Chris Fraser averaged 45.0 yards on three punts with a long of 53 yards and classmate Luis Uceta had three punt returns for 37 yards, including a career-long 26-yard return.
• Cornell's coaches will be wearing Coach to Cure MD patches on the sidelines this weekend as part of focusing the attention of the nation's sports fans on the fight to cure Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the most prolific genetic killer diagnosed in childhood
• Football fans can donate to life-saving research by either going online at www.coachtocuremd.org or by texting the word CURE to 90999 on their mobile phones to give $5 on the next mobile phone bill.
 • David Archer '05, the Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Cornell Football, is in his third season at the helm of the Big Red (4-17 overall, .190; 3-11, Ivy, .214).
• Archer is the second youngest Division I head football coach in the country.
• He had been an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at his alma mater for six years.
• Archer was hired as head coach on Jan. 3, 2013.

THE SERIES
• Yale leads the all-time series 46-29-2 dating back to the first encounter in the 1889 season.
• Cornell's longest win streak over Yale is four games (1990-93), while the Bulldogs claimed seven straight victories over the Big Red (1973-79).
• The series has recently tilted toward the Bulldogs, who have won 10 of the last 14 meetings between the squads, though Cornell upset the 2008 preseason Ivy League favorites 17-14 at Schoellkopf Field in 2008 and knocked off the Bulldogs 14-12 at the Yale Bowl in 2009.
• Yale avenged its 2012 loss to the Big Red in Ithaca with a 38-23 victory in New Haven, Conn. in 2013, then dropped Cornell 51-13 in last season's Ivy opener.
 
ABOUT YALE
• Yale enters the weekend 1-0 after twice rallying from two touchdowns down in a 29-28 road win over Colgate.
• The Bulldogs used two blocked kicks and a two-point conversion after a late score to earn the win.
• Senior quarterback Morgan Roberts completed 29-of-41 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns.
• Roberts earned Ivy League co-Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
• Yale piled up 25 first downs against the Raiders and was an efficient 8-of-16 on third down.
• Candler Rich ran for 78 yards on 22 carries and scored once taking over for All-America running back Tyler Varga.
• Michael Siragusa Jr. caught seven passes for 82 yards and a touchdown to lead the Yale receiving corps.
• Defensively, Victor Egu had 13 tackles and Foyesade Oluokun had eight stops and blocked two field goal attempts.
• Under fourth-year head coach Tony Reno, the Bulldogs return 43 letter winners and 13 starters from last season's 8-2 squad that paced the FCS in total offense (571.5 yards per game) and ranked third in scoring (41.3 points per game).
 
A WIN OVER YALE WOULD ...
• even Cornell's record at 1-1 overall.
• make the Big Red 1-0 in Ivy League play.
• give the Big Red consecutive Ancient Eight road wins.
• snap a two-game losing streak overall, as well as a two-game skid against Yale.
• narrow the Bulldogs' lead in the all-time series to 46-30-2.
• make Cornell 28-30-2 all-time in Ivy League openers, including 6-10 against Yale.
• give Cornell a 104-61-5 record all-time in the month of September.
• be the 632nd in program history (12th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision).
 
LAST TIME OUT
• Bucknell's R.J. Nitti, falling to the ground under relentless Big Red pressure, sailed a pass into the end zone - a virtual hail mary with just under two minutes left in the game.
• Joey DeFloria went up amongst double coverage and wrestled the ball away to give Bucknell its first football win in Ithaca in 20 years as the Bison topped Cornell 19-14 on Sept. 19 at Schoellkopf Field.
• With the win, Bucknell moved to 2-1, while the Big Red lost its season opener on Homecoming in front of a boisterous crowd of better than 16,000 fans.
• Big Red senior tailback Luke Hagy rushed for 105 yards and scored once and the Big Red twice rallied from deficits, but the Bison were able to make one more play to earn its second straight win in the series.
• The defense sparkled, surrendering just 286 total yards despite being on the field for more than 37 minutes and 77 plays, with senior captain Rush Imhotep posting an interception and sophomore defensive end Seth Hope tallying 2.5 tackles for loss.
• After DeFloria's touchdown, a 14-yard catch with 1:53 left in regulation, Cornell had two chances to tie or take the lead.
• The Big Red was intercepted, then after forcing a three-and-out and leveraging another possession by spending its final two timeouts, a fumble and a snap through the end zone for a Bucknell safety as time expired closed out the game.
• Bucknell, coming off an 8-3 season and picked to finish second in the preseason Patriot League poll, limited Cornell to 240 yards of offense itself and controlled the ball thanks to the running of C.J. Williams, who posted 133 yards on the ground.
• Nitti, whose brother John played at Cornell, was 20-of-33 passing for 174 yards and two touchdowns.


 
THE IVY OPENER
• Cornell opens the 60th official season of Ivy League play with a 27-30-2 record in the previous 59 conference starters.
• The Big Red has faced Yale 15 times (each of the last 15 seasons) in Ivy openers previously with a 5-10 mark.
• Included was last year's 51-13 Yale triumph in Ithaca, N.Y.
 
SOME NOTES TO KNOW
• Senior running back Luke Hagy enters the weekend with a streak of four consecutive 100-yard rushing games. He is looking to become the first Cornellian to run for more than 100 yards in five straight contests since Chad Levitt '97 had six straight during the 1996 campaign. The school record is 10 games set by Ed Marinaro '72 over the final 10 games of his storied career.
• Hagy boosted his career rushing yards total to 1,727, passing Scott Oliaro '93 for 10th on the all-time list. Next up is Pete Larson '67 with 1,751 and Joe Holland '79 with 1,755.
• Hagy is the 29th player in school history to reach 1,000 career rushing yards and the first to hit the century mark in both rushing and receiving at Cornell.
• Hagy is one of just six players in school history to throw, pass and catch touchdown passes in their career. He joins Derrick Harmon '84, John Tagliaferri '86, Steve Lutz '89, Luke Siwula '08 and Ryan Houska '12 on that exclusive list.
• Hagy has at least one catch in all 30 varsity games. If he makes a catch in all 10 this season, he would tie the school record for consecutive contests with a catch (39), currently held by Keith Ferguson '03.
• Junior punter Chris Fraser has earned first-team All-Ivy honors in each of his first two seasons. The last Cornellian to earn back-to-back first-team all-league accolades was Kevin Boothe '05.
• Fraser was named to the STATS FCS Preseason All-America third team, joining fellow Ivy Leaguers Seth DeValve (Princeton, wide receiver) and Cole Toner (Harvard, offensive line) on the third team as the lone representatives from the conference.
• The interception for fifth-year senior captain Rush Imhotep against Bucknell was the third of his career. Only sophomore Nick Gesualdi (four) and senior Jarrod Watson-Lewis (three) have as many.
• The Big Red had three first-time starters against Bucknell, as the offensive line featured RG John Foster for the first time, while the defense had DE Seth Hope and OLB Justin Solomon. In addition, long snapper Mac Pope, place-kicker Zach Mays and kickoff specialist Ardian Sahinovic also made their first varsity appearances at their positions.
• Six players made their first varsity appearances — senior KO Ardian Sahinovic, junior DL Drew Diedrich, and freshman LB Malcolm Chaka, S Gustavo Dorsett, PK Zach Mays and RB J.D. PicKell.
• Hope had 2.5 tackles for loss after recording three total tackles a year ago.
• Cornell's defense limited Bucknell to 286 yards on just 3.7 yards per play.
• Freshman place-kicker Zach Mays booted through two PAT kicks for his first collegiate points.
• Senior punter Ardian Sahinovic earned the team's starting spot as the kickoff specialist and averaged 63.3 yards with one touchback on three attempts.
•Sophomore Jake Jatis earned five starts under center a year ago, becoming the second Cornellian to earn a start at quarterback as a freshman, joining all-time Ivy leading passer Jeff Mathews '13.
• The Big Red will play its 99th all-time game vs. Dartmouth this season, its 98th against Princeton and its 97th vs. Colgate.
• The Big Red offense hasn't been shut out in 50 games, with the last coming against Penn (34-0 to close out 2009).
• The last time Cornell was picked to finish eighth in the preseason media poll (2004), the Big Red became the second Ivy League team ever to go from an 0-7 campaign to a winning league record (4-3)  in the span of a year.
• Cornell has had the last two Ivy League Rookies of the Year (Chris Fraser in 2013, Nick Gesualdi in 2014). No Ivy team has ever crowned Rookie of the Year three years in a row.
• Walk-on defensive back Eric Sade played for two seasons on the men's ice hockey team before joining the Big Red on the gridiron.
• Since taking over the program, head coach David Archer '05 is 3-1 in the trophy series games against Columbia (Empire Bowl, 2-0) and Penn (Trustees' Cup, 1-1).
• Cornell will meet Sacred Heart in non-conference action, its 89th opponent all-time. Among active Division I football schools (BCS and FCS), Cornell has also played exactly one game against Albany (1-0), Cincinnati (0-1), Michigan State (1-0), New Hampshire (1-0), Stanford (0-1)and Virginia Tech (1-0).
• Cornell reached 23,000 points in school history in its season opener against Bucknell. The program enters the weekend having scored 23,010 points over 1,165 games — an average of 19.8 points per game.
 
BIG RED INVOLVED IN STORIED RIVALRIES
• The Big Red is involved in three of the top 20 most-played rivalries in college football.
• The Cornell-Penn series ranks fifth in most games played, a total that will reach 122 this season.
• The 102 meetings between Cornell and Columbia ranks 12th, while the Cornell-Colgate rivalry stands 17th with 96 games played.
• The Cornell-Dartmouth and the Cornell-Penn series are the second-longest uninterrupted active series, as the teams have met every season since 1919, a span of 96 years. They trail only the Lafayette-Lehigh series, which has been played every year since 1897.
 
HAGY NOMINATED FOR GOOD WORKS TEAM
• Senior running back Luke Hagy has been nominated for the 2015 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, the most esteemed off the field honor in college football.
• The Good Works Team recognizes college football players from across the country who exemplify a superior commitment to community service and volunteerism.
• Hagy is one of just two Ivy League players nominated, along with Yale's Sebastian Little.
• Comprised of 11 players from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and 11 players from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III and the NAIA, the final roster of 22 award recipients will be unveiled in September.
• In order to meet the criteria set forth by Allstate and the AFCA, each player must be actively involved with a charitable organization or service group while maintaining a strong academic standing.
 
FOOTBALL GETS NCAA RECOGNITION (AGAIN)
• Football has been publicly recognized by the NCAA for its Academic Progress Report (APR) score being in the top 10 percent nationally each year since the scores were first tabulated in 2004-05.
• Three Cornell sports (football, men's golf and women's soccer) have been publicly recognized each year since the APR was first released and are among just 129 teams across the country with that accomplishment.
• Cornell's score of 986 (out of 1,000) this past year is tied for its third-highest ever, behind only the 987 it had scored the previous two years.
• Only six FCS schools have been honored each year in football (Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Davidson, Penn and Yale), with five coming from the Ivy League.
• The APR measures semester-by-semester records for every individual team in Division I with regard to each team members' continuing eligibility, retention and progress toward graduation.
 
STATING THE STATES
• Cornell's 108-player roster is made up of student-athletes from 28 states, as well as Canada, South Africa and two from the District of Columbia.
• A team-high 15 players come to Cornell from California, while another 12 attended school in bordering Pennsylvania, 11 come from the home state of New York and 10 reside in Texas.
• Seven players are from Michigan, six players are from Maryland and five apiece come from Georgia and Virginia.
 
CORNELL FOOTBALL AT 128 YEARS
• This is the 129th year since the start of Cornell football, but it will be the 128th season.
• The first official Big Red football team was formed in 1887, and Cornell has sponsored a squad every year since except 1918 during World War I.
• The Big Red has an overall record of 631-500-34 (.556) in its 127 years of football.
• The program's 631 wins rank 12th among all FCS schools.
• Over the years, Cornell has taken on 88 different opponents, with its most frequent opponent being Penn (121 meetings).
 
CORNELLIANS IN THE NFL
• Two Cornellians were on NFL opening day rosters in 2015.
• Bryan Walters '10, one of the Big Red's all-time greats at wide receivers, begins his sixth NFL season overall and first with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
• He spent the last three seasons with his hometown Seattle Seahawks with a Super Bowl ring to his name in 2014.
• He previously had spent time with the San Diego Chargers and the Minnesota Vikings.
• Walters, a wide receiver and special teams returner, enters the season having played in 21 career games with one start.
• He has caught nine passes for 84 yards, returned two kickoffs for 43 yards and returned 35 punts for 252 yards.
• Third-year offensive lineman JC Tretter '13 was an FCS All-American before being drafted in the fourth round of the NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers in 2013.
• Tretter suffered an injury during official team activities (OTA) and missed his first NFL season, and was slated to be the Packers' starting center in 2014 before a preseason injury.
• He appeared in eight contests as a reserve for the Packers in 2014 once getting healthy, seeing action at both tackle spots and left guard.
 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
• Cornell holds claim to five national titles in its storied football history.
• The Big Red claimed at least a share of the 1915 (Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation and Parke Davis), 1921 (Helms, Houlgate, National Championship Foundation and Parke Davis), 1922 (Helms, Parke Davis), 1923 (Sagarin) and 1939 (Litkenhous, Sagarin) titles.
• All five teams went undefeated and dominated their opponents.
• The 1915 team was 9-0 and outscored its opponents 287-50 with four shutouts.
• The 1921, 1922 and 1923 squads each went 8-0 and outscored their opponents 392-21, 339-27 and 320-33, respectively.
• The teams allowed more than one touchdown in a game just once during that 24-game span while scoring 40 or more points 14 times.
• The 1939 team was 8-0 and defeated Syracuse, Penn State and Ohio State.
 
PETE GOGOLAK '64 EARNS NFF HONOR
• Cornell football great Pete Gogolak '64 and his brother, Princeton star Charlie Gogolak, have been named the National Football Foundation's Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award Recipients for 2015.
• The first soccer-style place-kicker in collegiate football history, Pete '64 set a national major college record of 44 consecutive kicking conversions from 1961-63.
• First presented in 1974, the NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award provides national recognition to those whose efforts to support the NFF and its goals have been local in nature or who have made significant contributions to the game of football either to the manner in which it is played and coached or to the manner in which it is enjoyed by spectators.
• The Gogolaks become the 39th and 40th recipients of the award.
• The Gogolaks will be honored at the 58th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 8 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.
 
60TH SEASON OF IVY LEAGUE ATHLETICS
• Throughout the 2015-16 season, the Ivy League will be celebrating its 60th season with impactful content across IvyLeagueSports.com, The Ivy League Digital Network and the League's social media outlets.
• Be on the lookout for the #IvyAt60 hashtag to keep up the coverage of the League's 60th season.
 
NEXT UP
• The Big Red returns home for three of its next four contests after visiting Yale beginning with a matchup against Colgate on Friday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• Cornell has a narrow 48-45-3 lead in the all-time series, and this will be the 97th all-time meeting between the Central New York rivals.